Nothin' But the Taillights
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Oneshot. Yami thinks about Phoebe Prince and honors her memory. Dedicated to the memory of Phoebe Prince and other victims of cyberbullying who came before her and didn't deserve to be bullied at all. May she rest in peace...


**Hey there, my fellow readers and writers! :) I wish you all a year full of excitement and hope, and I'm hopeful that this year will also be full of blessings! Now, what better way to increase my Yu-Gi-Oh oneshot songfics than with a Clint Black song titled "Nothin' But the Taillights"? I, for one, think it's a great song to listen to and be inspired by. **

**This is in loving memory of Phoebe Prince (November 24, 1994 – January 14, 2010). After experiencing so much bullying from her classmates (and over a guy, too), including being targeted on Facebook and being called an "Irish whore" (because of her Irish blood) and a "slut", Phoebe hanged herself on January 14, 2010. She was only fifteen years old – a high school freshman. When I read her story, I was shocked and devastated, and then finally furious at her tormentors. How dare they do something like that to Phoebe? **

**Disclaimer: Genius Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh. The lyrics to Nothin' But the Taillights by Clint Black belong to their respective owners. Parts of the article called "Who Failed Phoebe Prince?", which I found on , belong to their respective owners as well. I own the songfics, oneshots, novellas, stories and poems. **

Nothin' But the Taillights

_You Were The First Thing That I Thought Of  
>When I Thought I Drank You Off My Mind<br>When I Get Lost In The Liquor  
>You're The Only One I Find<br>And If I Did The Things I Oughta  
>You Still Would Not Be Mine<br>So I'll Keep A Tight Grip On The Bottle  
>Getting' Loose And Killin' Time<em>

_Chorus:  
>This Killin' Time Is Killin' Me<br>Drinking Myself Blind Thinkin' I Won't See  
>That If I Cross That Line And They Bury Me<br>I Just Might Find I'll Be Killin' Time For Eternity _

_I Don't Know Nothin' 'bout Tomorrow  
>I've Been Lost In Yesterday<br>I've Spent All My Life Just Dying  
>For A Love That Passed Away<br>And If There's An End To All My Sorrow  
>And This Is The Only Price I'll Pay<br>I'll Be A Happy Man When I Go  
>And I Can't Wait Another Day<em>

_This Killin' Time Is Killin' Me  
>Drinking Myself Blind Thinkin' I Won't See<br>That If I Cross That Line And They Bury Me  
>Well, I Just Might Find I'll Be Killin' Time For Eternity<em>

_I Just Might Find I'll Be Killin' Time For Eternity_

–Clint Black, **Killin' Time**

It was a cold, rainy night in the town of Domino. However, one person didn't seem to mind the cold or the rain anyway.

His tri-colored, lightning-shaped bangs flowing in the wind and his black boots stepping down the road, Yami was definitely in a good mood. In his mind walking at night was one of the coolest things to do. Luckily, since he had Shadow Powers, he was able to protect himself from anyone and anything that had harmful intentions toward him. Plus, he could make himself invisible so that he was able to keep an eye on others, and they couldn't see who it was that was watching them with a critical eye.

_Blue Kentucky Highway, Headin' For The Line  
>She Hadn't Said A Word All Night,<br>But The Wheels Are Turnin' In Her Mind  
>Now I Was Ridin' Shotgun,<br>And I Knew Things Had Gone Awry  
>Just As Soon As She Dropped Me Off<br>At The Side Of The Road  
>And She Let That Gravel Fly<em>

His amethyst eyes glowing in the darkness, Yami watched intently as the sight of two men arguing about something big – Yami knew it was definitely a drug deal gone wrong and one of their comrades had ended up dead, because he was able to hear them even from far away.

"How dare you? You knew this would happen, didn't you?" the man snapped at his partner.

"Yeah, so? Maybe he deserved it. After all, I never liked him much."

"Oh, you bastard! I will definitely give you a tough lesson you won't ever forget – one that will indefinitely be engraved in your memory for all time!"

"Bring it on, chump!"

It was then that the two men immediately took to fighting with their fists. It was like they had a score to settle – and with each other, that is.

Yami just looked on, smirking. "Oh, the evil that men do," he said to himself, his smirk becoming dark and sinful.

He then continued walking down the road, leaving the two men to their fighting.

_Now I'm Walkin' In The Moonlight,  
>Seein' Nothin' But The Taillights<br>And That's A Pair Of Taillights  
>I May Never See Again<br>She Hit Me With The Left And Right,  
>Showin' Me Nothin' But The Taillights<br>And That's About As Lonely  
>As The Highway's Ever Been<br>Back Here With My Thumb Out In The Wind_

_Was It Somethin' That I Did To Her,  
>Or The Things I Never Said<br>I Wonder If The Way We Were Was Only In My Head  
>Now If I Even Make It Back To Town<br>Before The Sun Comes Up  
>I'm Gonna Hit Every Parking Spot Around<br>'til I Find That Pick-up Truck_

Yami then thought of the one person that, in his opinion, shouldn't have died – and she didn't die the way most people do, and that was of natural causes, a heart attack, or a drug overdose. Instead, she had committed suicide.

He had seen a picture of her on Yugi's laptop. She was fifteen years old, and was a freshman at South Hadley High School. But sadly, after only being able to take so much of being picked on and teased, on January 14, 2010, she had taken her own life.

He shook his head. The old saying was very true: Sticks and stones can only break bones but words can shatter a soul. _Very true indeed, _Yami thought. If there was one thing he hated, it was bullying – or rather, cyberbullying, as they called it nowadays...

**** In Yugi's room at the Game Shop ****

"Yugi, what is that?" asked Yami as he sat hovering cross-legged above Yugi's bed, like a monk in meditation, and looking over his Hikari's shoulder at the ‛website' (as Yugi called it), which Yugi was currently viewing on the laptop. His curiosity was peaked, as he wanted to know all about the modern world, which, he knew, had changed in 5,000 years since he reigned in Ancient Egypt as Pharaoh.

"It's about this girl named Phoebe Prince, Yami," Yugi explained. "She was a great girl, and I will miss her terribly." His eyes – which happened to be the same color as Yami's – were filled with tears as he said this.

On the screen was a picture of a young girl. She had blue eyes that were expressive and seemed to be full of warmth, and her hair was wavy and long, and was chocolate in color. Yami instantly saw that she had beauty in her, and that she had the potential to become anything she wanted. The one thing he instantly took a liking to was her smile in the picture. It was full of life and sure was inspiring. It was as though Phoebe had been on so many adventures, seen so many things and had so many stories to tell.

According to the website for Boston Magazine, Phoebe "dressed for fun and in full color; she liked T-shirts and miniskirts. And the accent — the other kids were always trying to get her to say something so they could hear the lovely lilt".

But, however, things soon took a very bad turn for Phoebe:

_A couple of months into the fall semester, Phoebe began a brief relationship with Sean Mulveyhill, a senior who captained the football team and was a local sports legacy. Popular and accustomed to female attention, Sean was something of a score. He had dated (and some say never stopped dating) Kayla Narey, a pretty blond junior, herself a star athlete. Shortly before Phoebe's 15th birthday, in November, Sean reunited with Kayla, and suddenly Phoebe found herself on the wrong side of the popular crowd._

That's when the name-calling began, according to the authorities, who conducted a three-month investigation into Phoebe's death.

__Stupid bitch___, ___Irish slut___, ___Irish whore___, ___ho___. ___Fucking ho___. _

"_Close your legs,_"_ Ashley Longe, a round-faced junior, allegedly spat. For more than two months, the comments came almost daily. Phoebe's once-cheerful gait along her regular route — through the library, past the cafeteria, and out the heavy metal front doors toward home — soon became a shuffle. She laughed less and less, for fear of attracting even more attention. _"_Whore,_"_ authorities say Ashley called out. _"_I hate stupid sluts._"

Yami narrowed his eyes as he read the article. He then remembered how he would deal with people like them back in the times of Ancient Egypt, when he had been Pharaoh. _If it were up to me, _he thought, _I would definitely send those tormentors of Phoebe's to the Shadow Realm, where they themselves would be tormented for all time._

He then turned to Yugi, who looked over at him and asked, "What do you think, Yami?"

Yami thought for a moment. "Hmm. Well, if this had happened back when I was Pharaoh, what do you think I would do?"

Now it was Yugi's turn to think. Then he replied,

"Well, I believe you would first subject those bullies to a Millennium Trial. If they were guilty – and I believe they would be – they would be sentenced to the Shadow Realm, where they would be tormented indefinitely."

Yami grinned while listening to Yugi's reply, and nodded. "Yes, I definitely would."

He then turned to the photo of Phoebe and then back at Yugi, believing that he would make a great Pharaoh out of Yugi yet. Then his thoughts turned to Phoebe, and he imagined going to her house and stopping her from committing suicide by hanging, and then counseling her, with her head on his lap while he sat on the bed in her room drying her tears. Then, he imagined being by Phoebe's side as she walked down the hall, and her tormentors looking all shocked at the smirk he would give them.

The next day...

It was a sunny Saturday morning. However, Yami, a bouquet of roses in his hands, was in Ireland, where he knew Phoebe's ashes were. He bent and placed the roses on the grass, and then said in a whisper,

"Well, Phoebe, you may be gone, but your spirit will always live on."

He then smiled tearfully and then flew off back to the town of Domino.

Yugi blinked as his Other suddenly appeared just as he was waking up. "Wow, Yami," he said, surprised. "I take it you did what you had to do when you got to Ireland?"

Yami nodded. "Yes, Yugi. It was my way of honoring Phoebe's memory, as well as keeping her legacy alive."

It was then that Yami walked over to Yugi and then held him in a brotherly manner as tears rolled down Yugi's cheeks as the high school student remembered Phoebe. Yugi and Yami knew that Phoebe would've loved roses, or any other kind of flower.

Yami then smiled to himself. _Well, Phoebe, _he thought, _keep on smiling wherever you are, and I hope you are in a better place, where there is no bullying or being picked on, but being treated with respect and dignity. _

**~Finis**


End file.
